These Are the Five Businesses Grand Junction Misses the Most

I recently posted a question on Facebook asking "Which Grand Junction business do you wish was still around?" and got quite a lot of responses. Here are the top five:

5. Gene Taylor's Sports Outlet

Gene Taylor's was a sporting goods store, family-owned by sports legend Gene Taylor. There is still a location in Fruita, but Grand Junction isn't so lucky.

4. Shakey's Pizza

Shakey's Pizza is known for "serving the world's greatest pizza," but not in Grand Junction any longer. The chain only has 58 locations currently in the United States, and zero in Grand Junction.

3. Hastings

This one hurts. Hastings was the go-to store for music nerds like myself. I used to spend hours just browsing through the used CDs and t-shirts, but as with many record stores, internet shopping has proved to be the bigger beast.

2. Aladdin's Castle

As a kid growing up in Eagle, back to school shopping always meant a trip to Grand Junction, namely the Mesa Mall. We'd do the boring clothes and school supply shopping, then hit the change machine and play games at Aladdin's Castle. I was honestly shocked when I heard that Aladdin's Castle was gone, and the Mesa Mall will never be the same.

1. Guyton's Fun Junction

There was no contest on the Facebook post, Fun Junction was a clear winner taking most of the votes. I'll never forget the first time I went on the roller coaster with my dad at Fun Junction. It was the first roller coaster I'd ever been on and I fell in love with them ever since. It was a little amusement park, but it had all of the essentials. I have fond memories of the tilt-a-whirl, the spider, and of course the roller coaster. It was a little redeeming when I heard that a Hooters opened up in the old location, but alas, that's gone now too.